<p>We have not have very good luck in finding good quality cordless phones for household use. I’d love any advice out there about brands to seek–or avoid.</p>
<p>We have standard SBC (pacific bell) service and just want a simple landline cordless phone that will not get too much interference and have the capacity to shut off the answering machine remotely…</p>
<p>We, too, had some problems with a cordless phone system we once had, so hubby did some research and we now have a cordless phone system made by Uniden (DCT 5280). We keep the base in the kitchen and purchased three additional handsets to keep in various rooms of the house. It has Caller ID, Caller ID Waiting, Speaker Phone, Intercom, Hold, Answering Machine, etc. We have had this phone for about three years, so I’m guessing they have updated the model, though I can’t imagine how they could have made it better. We’re very happy with what we have. Good luck on your search.</p>
<p>Have you checked Consumer Reports? The October 2005 issue has info on cordless phones. The 2006 Buying Guide has a summary.</p>
<p>I’d suggest these features:
*Digital
*Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum or Digital Spread Spectrum</p>
<p>These features increase the privacy of your calls.</p>
<p>I just noticed that our Uniden phones of at least five years back are in the 2.4 Ghz range and that is the same range as our wireless router. I changed the router (with the tech coach on the phone today) to the highest freq possible in the 2.4 range since when the phone rings our otherwise briliant wireless connection is lost half the time (when they hit the same frequency).<br>
Newer phones are in higher bandwidths. Don’t buy in the older 2.4 range is my advice.</p>
<p>I had two vtech’s and neither of them went too well… so I now stay away from them. My most recent cordless phone is a Uniden and it has held up nicely. (Although is not currently in use as I don’t want a phone in my room)</p>
<p>Try Panasonic or Motorola. Buy 2.4 Ghz or Higher and to make them last long and work good, always put the handset back in the cradle (charger).</p>
<p>They are bit more expensive than Vtec, GE or Uniden.</p>
<p>I just bought a Panasonic model that has two extra handset/bases. My model is the KX-TGA542M (5.8 Ghz) and I love it. What is great about the Panasonic is that each handset shows how much charge is left on the battery, displays a message when it is time to charge, also displays when charging is complete…just like a cell phone. The best way to protect battery memory is to let the battery drain fully and then completely recharge. But the biggest problem with that has always been picking the handset up off the charging base too soon and shortening the battery memory…or placing it on the charging base when it is not completely drained establishing a new shorter battery life. But this is solved with the Panasonic by the charging messages/display. Has a belt clip, caller id, call waiting id, digital answering machine, speakerphone, intercom, message playback from each handset, etc…</p>
<p>You all are way better than Consumer Reports!!! This is SO helpful…</p>
<p>Idmom06,</p>
<p>I have an older Parasonic model at home. One problem is the play-back of the answering message is not very clear, most of the times kind of hard to discern what people are saying. How does your machine sound like? Thanks,</p>
<p>So far, it sounds fine, but it is new. My husband has an older version (2.4Ghz) of the same phone set up in the home office and I’ve noticed, over time, more and more garbled messages. Some play back fine, but occasionally there are messages that leave you scratching your head. I assumed it was a problem on the other end, but now I wonder.</p>
<p>Battery care is a function of its technology. If it is a NiCad battery it will suffer the most from a memory effect and should NOT be placed back in the cradle after each use. It is best to let them drain as close to their limit as possible. On the other end of the spectrum is Li Ion which have very good immunity from a memory effect and can be placed back into the charger after each use. It is best for providing remaining charge feedback and “fully charged” status. In the middle is Ni MH which is pretty good for immunity from memory effect but has a poor ability to provide accurate remaining charge feedback.</p>
<p>If you have a wireless home network based on IEEE 802.1b or g (which are the dominate home networking types) it is best to avoid a 2.4 GHz cordless phones since they will interfere with the wireless network.</p>
<p>Thanks for the battery lesson, fundingfather. I just checked the battery in our cordless phone. It’s NiCad, and I have always just put the phone back into the charger as a matter of habit. Time to change.</p>
<p>I finally found a cordless phone I like. It’s got one base station (small, if you get the one without the answering machine built in) with a handset. Then you can have other handsets around the house that are like extensions. They all have caller ID and - a feature we didn’t know we’d use so much until we had it - an intercom feature so that you can call from handset to handset. Each handset has mute, speakerphone, and all the other bells and whistles. So far we love them.</p>
<p>They are from RadioShack and are 5.8GHz Digital phones (no interference that we’ve seen). I THINK, but may not be remembering correctly, that a basestation and three handsets cost about $100 or maybe a bit more…</p>
<p>Only had 'em about 6 months, but so far, the verdict is thumbs up. And you can add more handsets (“extensions”) as you need them.</p>
<p>I just checked the batteries: Nickle Metal Hydride.</p>